Involuntarily
by A-Delicate-Unraveling
Summary: While Ceecee went on with her ‘we need to volunteer’ speech I kind of spaced out until she said that one word. “Don’t you think that'll be fun Suze?” she asked me anxiously. “Oh yeah, I’m thrilled.” The truth was though, I wasn’t so thrilled.
1. A Perfect Summer or not

Summary: While Ceecee went on and on with her 'we need to volunteer' speech I kind of spaced out until she said that one word. "Don't think that will be fun Suze?" she asked me anxiously. "Oh yeah, I'm thrilled," I said in reply. The truth was though, I wasn't so thrilled.

Diclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, those belong to Meg Cabot. But the plot, I do own.

Chapter 1: A Perfect Summer… or not

Finally it was the first day of summer. Here in Carmel, California the sun was shining more brightly than usual and the sky was even bluer. Finally, my sophmore year at The Mission was over and I was looking forward to a work free summer.

Well, besides the occasional butt kicking of the paranormal type. But still, all and all it was basically a work free summer.

I went downstairs to the kitchen and was looking for a diet coke in the fridge. But to my disappointment I didn't see any in the fridge. I looked in the pantry and there they all were. "Brad, didn't mom tell you to put more diet coke in the fridge!" I yelled to him from the kitchen. In response I heard the volume of the music he was listening to increase. Marilyn Manson, I thought to myself rolling my eyes. What else is new?

So I put the sodas in the fridge for the boy, but I made a mental note to tell mom when she got home. I opened the warm can of diet coke and poured it in a cup over ice. I felt the satisfying fizziness of the soda go down my throat and took a relaxing breath. I brought the glass up to my room.

I picked up a magazine off of my dresser and went to lay on my bed as I flipped through the pages. There was a headline that caught my eye that said "Need Volunteer Hours?" below they listed suggestions of where you could earn your volunteer credits for high school.

Ha, I thought o myself as I flipped the page. As is I'd spend my summer doing work I wasn't even getting paid for. Sorry, but if anyone wanted little ole' Suzie working for them, they'd have to pay up first. Pay me first, work later.

--V-W--

Then as if on cue the phone in my room rang. I looked at the called ID and sure enough, it was Ceecee. I picked up the phone and said "Hey Cee, what's up?"

"Well, nothing's up Simon," I could tell she was grinning as she said this" Besides, Adam's not even over." I rolled my eyes at her perverted comment.

"Seriously Ceecee, why did you call?" I asked her, smiling, I just couldn't help it. Thinking about her and Adam together, finally boyfriend and girlfriend, brought a smile to my face, no matter how ridiculously cheesy that sounds.

"Well Suze I've been thinking, and we're really lacking in the 'volunteer hours' department for school." She said in as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

Oh great, I thought to myself. I thought I had dodged her whole idea of earning-volunteer-hours-for-school-together-over-the-summer. "Yeah you're right Cee." Then I sighed knowing that her speech, the speech I had heard a gazillion times already was about to leave her lips once more. It would start out something like this "You know Suze, we have to earn 80 hours in order to graduate, and I want to spend the summer before our senior year just doing nothing. Which is why I think we should get as many hours done as we can… Blah…blah…blah…"

So yeah, I admit it I WAS spacing out while she went on with that little speech of hers.

I was thinking about spending every single day of the summer out on the beach. With the sun, the sand, and the sea. The smell of suntan lotion, and the new designer sun glasses I bought specifically for the summer. Plus all those hot, tan shirtless guys that would be at the beach. Their abs glistening in salt water, watching them play volleyball… and surf… plus all the ones in the lifeguard stands….

Whoa Suze, don't drool all over the mouth piece of the phone.

While I was laying on my bed, the phone still pressed up against my ear, thinking about all those hot shirtless guys with their glistening abs. One horrendous word (at least in my opinion) that CeeCee caused me to jump out of my dream-like state of mind and push away all thoughts of hot guys with glistening abs.

"Whoa, hold it Ceecee, you said what now!" I wanted to make sure I had heard her right.

"You weren't listening to me, were you Simon?" Ceecee said in an accusatory, which also sounded kind of annoyed. "Well sorry, I just don't have my own man with glistening abs, granted that Adam isn't much of a surfer, but hell at least he CAN surf…"

"What are you talking about Simon?" Ceecee asked me in a questioning voice.

Crap, did I say that out loud?

"Never mind," I said pushing it out of my brain, hoping she would forget I had ever said anything to. " Yes, I was listening, I just want to be sure I heard you right." My voice was a little panicky, but luckily not so much that she would notice.

--V-W--

"I just said," She replied in a slower tone as if I was some little two year old who was asking her house to spell Mickey Mouse. "That I think we should volunteer at the hospital over the summer to earn hours."

"You mean Carmel Regional Hospital?" I questioned her nervously.

"Yeah Suze you don't sound so thrilled about this-" But I had cute her off.

"Ceecee I DON'T DO hospitals." I said seriously.

"Why not?" she asked in an incredulous tone.

"Just because… Oh never mind." I knew I could never tell her the real reason why I hated that place SO much.

Oh come on Suze, I was really hoping you'd volunteer with me. It would be more fun with you." I could tell by her tone that she was disappointed.

I thought about it for a second, and after she whimpered please about 20 times, I relented, "Okay fine Cee, I guess I'll volunteer with you." I said in an unsure tone.

"But I don't want you to feel forced into doing it, you know, if you really don't want to," she said in a slightly more hopeful tone.

Then, grasping as much enthusiasm as I could possibly muster out of my 5 foot 6 body I said sounding more sure and excited "I'm thrilled Cee, it's going to be lots of fun!"

Yep, loads of fun Suze. Dodging dead people in the place that practically BREEDS them is going to be loads of cotton candy, rainbows, and butterflies full of fun.

"Yes! Thank you SO much Suze, I owe you!" She practically squealed into the phone, I had to hold it at arms length, afraid she'd make my ear drums burst. I don't see why she's SO excited, but she's right she DOES owe me for doing this. "So, I'll call you later with all the details. Bye!"

I hung up the phone with a big sigh full of both relief to have her off the phone and anxiety from knowing that soon I would have to face the place I hated the most, the place that gave me even more problems than I needed, and that filled me with dread for what was waiting behind every door and corner.

I looked down at the magazine I had been reading before Ceecee called and realized that I had been crumpling it, but not just the magazine, I had crumpled the article that was titled "Need Volunteer Hours?" the article I had been reading before.

Too bad I couldn't crumple and trash this volunteer job as easily as I could crumple and trash The Volunteer Article.

Obviously, I wasn't too thrilled about this volunteer thing.

Author's Note

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Constructive criticism, and suggestions are welcome. I will consider each suggestion and see if I can change the plot around a little.

Thanks so much for reading!

Read and REVIEW!

Chelsea


	2. Don't Worry Be Happy

A/N: Thanks so much toyou lovely people who gave my story a chance and reviewed. Sorry it took me so long to update. Here are replies to the questions you asked…

**Celuna Cirrus:** Yes, Jesse is going to be in this story of course… he'll be in it soon. And the story isn't really set before or after any book, it's just a story I came up with, and I wanted to use the characters of 'The Mediator'.

**The only -LGS-: **I've never thought of the whole substituting the hotel job for the volunteer job at the hospital lol, but yeah I guess what you said was right. And I don't know if I'm going to have Paul in this story of not.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of 'The Mediator' characters, they all belong to Meg Cabot. But I do own the plot of the story.

Enjoy the next chapter…

**Involuntarily Chapter 2: Don't Worry Be Happy**

Ceecee's call came later that night around 9:00. As she told me about some volunteer orientation thing we had togo totomorrow I sighed gustily into the mouth piece of the phone. But she didn't pay any attention to my apparent display of uninterestedemotion toward working at the hospital. She knew I wouldn't back out now. Not after I told her I'd volunteer with her.

"So I'll be over your house tomorrow at 8:30 to pick you up in the morning, because the orientation is from 9 'til 12 noon." My eyebrows rose in a questioning manner, not that she could see the expression of shock on my face.

I guess she figured something was wrong when at least 20 seconds has passed and I still hasn't said a single word in reply.

"Hello Suze, are you still on the phone?" Then when I still didn't reply due to my body suffering from the shock that had taken over my mind, and evidently my ability to speak. "Are you still _alive _Simon?" the tone of her voice escalating.

"Uh…" apparently the 'shock attack' had also prevented me from making coherent sentences. "Okay, good to know you're still conscious." Cee said in a sarcastically relieved tone.

Completely ignoring her I shouted, panicked into the phone "EIGHT THIRTY! YOU'RE PICKING ME UP _AT_ 8:30? DO YOU REALIZE HOW EARLY I'M GOING TO HAVE TO GET UP AND GET READY?" I said (no, more like yelled) into the phone, exasperated.

"You know, we all have to make sacrifices Suze. Besides it's not the end of the world, . And besides it'll be good tohave all our hoursbefore next summer." She sounded as if she was getting annoyed with me and my drama queen attitude.

Okay, maybe I _am _over dramatizing everything a _teeny tiny little bit_. Hell, let her get annoyed with me and my drama queen act, then maybe she'll change her mind about me volunteering with her.

Hah, I wish.

--V-W--

Ugh, I really don't want to go to this stupid thing tomorrow, I thought as I laid in my bed, starring up at the ceiling, my hair still damp from my shower that I had taken earlier. So far my attempt to 'go to bed earlier' had failed completely and miserably.

As I tossed and turned in my bed I could feel the sheets getting tangled around my legs, I was worried my alarm wouldn't go off in the morning and I'd oversleep and that I'd only end up with 10 minutes to get ready in the morning.

You know that nervous feeling you have in the pit of your stomach, like how you feel the night before the first day of school. And then if you think about it too much you start panicking, and your heart starts racing, and you're worried about everything that could go wrong.

Like I remember the night before I started third grade, I was so afraid I was going to have a mean teacher and that the work would be _so_ hard and no one would want to be my friend, and that ghosts would come and ruin my whole 'good first impression' act, you know the usual stuff an "almost third grader" would be worried about, well _almost _all the uaul stuff. And then that night I threw up the blackened dolphin I had for dinner. I'll save you from all the disgustingly disturbing details.

Anyway yeah, well that's how I felt all night as I laid there in navy blue cotton pajama pants and a soft black cotton tank top (except there wasn't any fish or puke involved, thank god) . I willed my eyes to close and welcome the warm darkness of sleep. Desperate, I even started counting backwards from 100. Hey don't look at me like that, sometimes that actually works, after that technique failed twice thoughI gave up.

I was too afraid to look at my alarm clock, fearing it would be like two or three in the morning. So I just laid there, closed my eyes, and hoped that I'd eventually fall asleep.

--V-W--

I woke up to the insistent sound of my alarm clock beeping at seven in the morning. Obviously I had fallen asleep sometime last night. And judging from how exhausted I was, I must've fallen asleep sometime earlier this morning, probably around two or something.

But not wanting to lift my head from my soft, fluffy, warm, and luxurious pillow I attempted to block the pestering sound of the alarm clock (which sounded similar to an ambulance siren) out of my mind.

When that failed, I finally lifted my head from my pillow. My messy,tangled, brownhair fell in my face. I pushed it away and wearily hit the snooze button, while mumbling to myself 'five more minutes'.

--V-W--

I was woken up once again by a noise that seemed to be right by my ear. I got one of my pillows that was next to my and held it over my head, wanting to block out the annoyingly loud sound. It stopped for a second, and then started again. 'Would you just _die_you stupid alarm clock!' I said angrily.

I heard my door squeak open, not even removing the pillow from over my head to see who it was I just laid there. "Um Suze," I heard Dock, I mean David say, he's the youngest of the three step brothers I live with, and secretly he's my favorite one. "Hmmm?" I asked him just wanting to go back to sleep. "That's your cell phone ringing."

Oh, right I knew that. Ha ha ha…

"Thanks" I replied, the pillow muffling what Imy reply. "No problem Suze." And then I heard squeak anda click from the doorknobas he shut my door.

Sitting up, I picked my cell phone up off the fluffy pinkrug (don't ask, mom bought it)that was by my bed and looked at the name on the litscreen ofto see who was calling. It was Ceecee of course, big surprise there.

"Yeah?" I asked groggily when I answered my phone, licking my dry lips.

"Hey Simon, what the hell are you doing? I called like ten times already, you better not still be in bed." How can she sound so _alive_ when it's so early in the morning?

"Anyway, I'll be at your house in 30 minutes and you better be ready. I don't want us both to be late." Then I heard a click and a dial tone.

I snapped my cell phone shutand thought a minute, confused.

But it's not even eight yet, what does she mean 30 min… that's when I realized that my 'five more minutes' had been up fifty-five minutes ago. Quickly, I turned my head to the left to look at my alarm clock. There were the big, bright, bold red numbers 8,0, and 1 staring back at me. It was 8:01, I only had like twenty-nine minutes to get ready!

"Oh shit," I said as I tried very tiredly to recollect my thoughts. Okay Suze just take one thing at a time. First you've got to figure out what you're going to wear…

--V-W--

I spent about ten minutes contemplating what I was going to wear, I had to make a good first impression after all.

What does one wear to a volunteer orientation at a hospital anyway?

Finally I decided on a pair of dark denim blue jeans from American Eagle and a teal tank top Ihad recently bought on a shopping trip to the mall,from Old Navyand brown flip flops. I decided to leave my hair down because I had read in Marie Claire magazine that you can never go wrong with leaving your hair down.

Having just enough time to apply the make-up essentials: foundation, mascara, and blush. I ran downstairs and into the kitchen to geta Special K breakfast bar from the pantry and a Minute Maid juice box from the fridge.

I grabbed my purse and ran to the front door just as Ceecee was pulling into the driveway in a white Honda CRV, she has to borrow her parents carbut she's currently saving up for her own.

"Aren't you excited?" Cee asked me cheerfully as soon as I opened her car door. She sounded like she had about five cups of coffee and a coke.

"Oh, I'm so excited all we're going to be doing is sitting there for three hours and listening to what these doctors and nurses are going to make us do. They're going to turn us into their own personalworking elves or something." I replied sarcastically as I unwrapped my Special K bar, taking a huge bite of it.

"Don't worry be happy, Suze." Cee said smiling at that little joke of hers. "Great, I'm going to have that song stuck in my head all through out the orientation, thanks Cee." Actually that might not be such a bad thing, it might be a little entertaining. God knows I'm going to need some of that, entertaininment I mean to get me through the next three eternally long hours.

"Oh, and Iforgot to tell you some info on the phone last night Suze", Ceecee said sounding kind of nervous. "Oh yeah, and what would that be?" I asked, looking right at her, well actually at the side of her face because she was too busy paying attention to the road.

"Well today at the orientation we have to get a shot, you know the TB shot?" She said and then let out a breath, as if she was relieved she had told me.

'What the hell is a TB shot?" I asked, I could already feel my heart racing.

"It's a tuberculosis shot, they say it's really easy to catch it in hospitals and that all the volunteers have to get it." She replied.

"Well, what's tuberculosis?" I asked, my voice raising.

" It's a highly contagious disease of humans and some other vertebrates caused by the tubercle bacillus and is caused by toxic symptoms or allergic manifestations thatcan affecta human's lungs." She said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone. It sounded to me like she had just read it out of some sciencebook or something.

"Oh" I replied, not understanding a single word she had just said, but pretending likeI did. I was barely listening. I was in too much panic from the whole 'having to get a shot' ordeal. I could feel the waves of nausea overcoming me.

"Uh… Cee, I don't do shots either." I said trying my best to remain completely calm. Yeah I wonder how long that was going to last.

XxX

Thanks so much for reading, and don't forget to review!

Chelsea


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